 Chennai Super Kings clinch thriller against Delhi Daredevils
8th May 2008 23:02 IST
Agencies
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir (80) smashed his fourth half century of the tournament to lead Delhi Daredevils to a challenging 187/5.
Gambhir held the Daredevils innings together with a 121-run third wicket stand with another half-centurion Dhawan (59) to take the home team near the 200-mark after his side lost captain Sehwag (23) and AB de Villiers (0) in quick succession.
Gambhir, who survived two run out chances, hit 11 fours and a huge six before he was out in the 18th over off Lakshmipathy Balaji.
Dhawan also batted beautifully at the other end and smashed six fours and two sixes from 46 balls for his 59 before becoming IPL debutant Balaji's second victim.
Gambhir, who brought up his fifty with a huge six over mid-wicket boundary off Gony to the deafening roar of nearly 30,000 Kotla crowd, overtook his captain Sehwag (270) and eventually snatched the Orange Cap from Deccan Chargers' Rohit Sharma (258) for being the highest run-accumulator.
Put into bat, the Daredevils began on a brisk pace with Sehwag and Gambhir rotating strikes and hitting odd balls to the boundary before they were separated in the fifth over with the home team skipper being bowled by a Gony beauty for 23 at team score of 45.
Next man in de Villiers was cleaned up by his South Africa teammate Morkel for first ball duck to send the home team to a spot of bother at 46/2 before Gambhir and Dhawan revived it.
For the Chennai side, Balaji and Morkel captured two wickets apiece conceding 35 runs each, while Gony chipped in one wicket for 36. |
